


A Song of Joy

by BecauseF3IsAPauseButton



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Agender Character, Alex Hates Clark, Alien Biology, Alien Culture, F/F, Genderfluid Character, Girl Penis, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Kara Deals With Being Abandoned, Kryptonian Biology, Kryptonian Culture, Mon-El Is Kara's Distant Cousin, Slow Burn Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Technically Kryptonians Have No Gender But Eh, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-12 02:21:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11727507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BecauseF3IsAPauseButton/pseuds/BecauseF3IsAPauseButton
Summary: Kara is the scion of Krypton, the last true child of a rapidly declining race. Only she and Mon-El remember the intricacies of Kryptonian/Daxamite society and everything involved. When an old friend turns up, pregnant with Kara's baby, she must put aside Earth teachings to raise the next truly Kryptonian child. Now if only her personal relationships would hold up long enough for her to be happy.orKara becomes a parent. Life gets in the way.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> An experiment regarding a genderless Kryptonian society and the rituals and ceremonies they would have performed.

The e-mail came when Kara was busy capturing a L’lorthigian. L’lorthigians were like an intergalactic minotaur, body shape and all. Zey’d escaped the van just as she was going to get changed and head home, but hearing the crunch of metal made her turn just as zey’d ended up down a sewer. She’d flown after zem, high as possible to avoid the sludge after zeir splash, then had to grab zem by their superhot horns with her hands wrapped in her cape.

“You have to get down,” She’d growled in L’lorth. “They’re going to put you in a habitat cell.”

Zey’d roared, attempting to headbutt her from behind. L’lorthigian’s had tiny arms, just barely able to reach their mouths, but with her holding onto the horns, zey couldn’t turn and gut her as intended. The horns went forwards but with her tight grip, it couldn’t rear back.

She pulled it back by the horns to knee zem in the back of the skull, at the midway soft point and zey attempted to turn to loose her hold at the same time but in the narrow tunnels, the too wide shoulders scrapped rather than turned, making her just a little dizzy.

“Allow me,” She said, with another hard knee, over half her strength this time. L’lorth had no word for ‘please.’

Zeir all brown eyes rolled back and it collapsed forwards. Kara hovered above zem, grabbed zem around the arm, and hauled zem to the surface. With the van crushed, Kara flew to the DEO. There was a place to put zem until they recovered, then zey would be relocated to the desert with zeir fellow L’lorthigians. Amnesty in America was very hard to come by for non-humanoid aliens but L’lorthigians were peaceful when in their own groups so they’d been granted what was essentially a reserve in the middle of the desert, most similar to their planet Fchalu’v-3.

“Good job, Supergirl,” J’onn said, hands crossed over his chest. Alex was with him, biting her lips to keep from sniggering. She’d sprained her shoulder when she’d fallen out of bed with Maggie, scared near to death by Maggie’s yappy little dog and was on desk and lab duty only. She’d complained bitterly until the L’lorthigian. Kara knew why. The L’lorthigian had begun to drool over her back as the flight whipped the air out of zeir mouth. Zeir drool had the consistency of silly putty and the color of baby puke.

Kara took a shower when it was over, glad it was Thursday evening with no other pressing emergencies. She ordered her typical Chinese and a single extra large pizza to tide her over. Tomorrow was Friday but she had Fridays and Saturdays off from the bullpen, working the slow Sunday beat to the busy midweek instead. It gave her more time to rest and Sundays were better pay, time and a half versus her normal forty hours a week. She was settled in front of her TV, watching an Ancient Aliens episode, laughing her head off, when Alex and Maggie came in.

“You really need to lock your door,” Alex told her, closing the door behind her. “You’re a single woman in a large city. Looks weird if you don’t.”

Kara shrugged, “I’m Supergirl.”

“I thought you were keeping a secret identity.” Maggie flopped next to Kara to watch the show, reaching casually for a pot sticker since Kara was busy stuffing her face with lo mein.

“Puf if back,” She managed around a mouthful of noodle. She swallowed, “I’ll freeze your eyelids shut. Put it back.”

Maggie scoffed but put it back, taking the carton of fried rice out of Alex’s hands instead.

“I’ll never eat again with you two,” She groused, but snagged a slice of pepperoni pizza with one hand.

Kara and Maggie knew she loved it. Alex had always felt very alone as a child of two genius parents, busy saving the world, and then stressed with teaching Kara how to be a teenager when she was just barely one herself, but Kara had never made her wonder if she was loved.

One of the downsides to teaching Kara how to be a teenager and then an adult was that Kara was so used to Alex doing every day things that she neglected to do them herself. It was typically little things – renewing her little used bus pass, putting more money on her Starbucks card, where she’d put her keys, if she’d left a jacket somewhere when it was too cold to go outside as a human without one. The only real thing Alex had to do regularly was remind Kara to check her email when not at work.

“Did you check your email?” She asked. Maggie reached for her phone but Kara groaned lowly.

“I’m not at work.”

“Things come up even when you’re not at work. There could be a schedule change. Someone could have died.”

Kara grumbled, “They can text it like the rest of the world.” Still, she opened her email.

Most of it was trash. Company emails about what was going on, who to be on the lookout for, who’d gotten fired – the list was significantly shorter than when Cat Grant was at the helm and looked to double when she came back over the winter and cleaned house – and who was hired in their place. There were a couple emails from some of the community groups she was a part of and they went in another file. There was one from Lena on a sustainable farm she was considering looking into so L-Corp could start working on organic and permaculture practices for at risk youth which she gave a flag so she’d remember it and one from -

“Huh,” She said, thumb hovering. “It’s August Sun.”

Alex snorted, “The girl who was in love with you?”

Her ears burned, “She was not in love with me.”

Maggie perked up from where she was slumping slowly against Alex as she read department emails. “Who was or was not in love with you?”

“My college roommate. We email sometimes but I wasn’t expecting one from her. She comes into town maybe once a year, we meet for lunch or dinner, see how the other is doing.”

Alex rolled her eyes, “You lived with her the whole four years of undergrad. You lived with her two years here, for God’s sake.”

Kara shrugged, “Good roommates are hard to find.”

Maggie looked around the studio apartment, “How the Hell did two people fit here?”

Alex waved a hand, “They had a paper divider on the other side but Kara pretty much lived with me and slept here since August was a creep.”

“She was not a creep,” Kara defended her. “She’s a sweet girl.”

Alex ignored her, “August got married right after school and Kara didn’t want to move since they’d grandfathered in the rate. It’s how she affords this place on the peanuts CatCo pays.”

“You just don’t like August because she beat you at basketball.”

Maggie smiled, “Aw, babe. You got beat?”

“She cheated,” Alex narrowed her eyes, even as Maggie rubbed her shoulder. “We all know she cheated.”

Kara rolled her eyes, “She’s about a foot taller than Alex, all she had to do was reach and the ball was in the basket.”

“That’s cheating. We should have cut her off at the kneecaps.”

Kara ignored her, opening the email.  
  
_Kara –_  
_Hey girl, was just thinking of you. I broke my last phone or I’d have just sent you a text message since I know you never check your email. I know its late but I haven’t seen you in a while. I was wondering if we could have lunch sometime this week (5/4-5/11). I’m in NatC, getting some rest in from George and Tyler, while Zion is still deployed in Kuwait. One of the draw backs of having a super genius go into the military, huh? Anyways, just shoot me an email or text._  
_Yours,_  
_August S._  
  
Alex was trying to read the email over Kara’s shoulder but Maggie was in the way.

“What’d she say?”

Kara ignored her, typing the email out painstakingly carefully. She'd already broken four that month.

 _August –_  
_I’m free on the 7th and 8th. Tell me whatever time is good for you, I’ll pick you up._  
_Call me: 123-456-7890_  
_See you soon,_  
_K_

Kara locked her phone, sliding it into her pocket. “She wants to get lunch sometime soon. Zion is overseas so she’s probably just bored.”

“That’s what she gets for being a housewife,” Alex snorted. “Eternal boredom.”

Maggie raised an eyebrow, “I know you’re a working woman, but harsh, Danvers. Not super feminist of you.”

“August is very intelligent, one of the best NCU’s philosophy department ever had. One of my lab partners was in class with her, said her connections were brilliant. She could be writing the next great American novel, exploring the psyche, developing new theories of thought. Instead, she’s changing diapers and scheduling playdates. Of course its her own fault for being bored.”

Kara privately agreed. Still, it would be nice to see August.  
\--  
August Sun was a striking woman; Black, six foot tall, waif thin except for a burgeoning pregnant belly, a beautiful, thoughtful face, and her kinky hair was done up into a sort of French braid around the crown of her head and the rest out into a puff. She kissed Kara on both cheeks when they saw one another at the front of her hotel and got into Kara’s little used car. She smelled of perfume, deodorant, toothpaste, and soap and pheromones. Humans at their cleanest had the funniest smells. Kara would have preferred somewhere fattening and greasy but Alex, Maggie, and Lena had shot down her suggestions when she’d brought it up.

“You’ll give her bloat.”

“You’ll give her gas.”

“Please eat a vegetable this week. For me.”

Kara had done one better; she’d taken her to the fancy fermentation place near Lena’s company. It meant she could take Lena one of those disgusting kombucha drinks when she was done, maybe introduce August and Lena. She thought they’d get along well.

Kara opened the car door for August and held open the restaurant door as well.

August smiled, “I forgot how much of a gentlewoman you were.”

“No, you didn’t. You used to call me Homegrown.”

“That’s true.”

They sat, ordered, and sipped on their seltzer water.

“How’re the kids?” Kara asked.

August looked up slowly, smiling again, tinged with guilt, “They’re great. George is potty trained and Tyler’s learning her alphabet. I’m thinking of enrolling her early.”

“Don’t.” Kara recalled with great intimacy her formative Kryptonian years, spent at her father’s knee learning how to work AI’s with her hands, reading cases with her mother. “Cherish the time you have with her.”

August didn’t seem to think there was anything nostalgic about Kara’s voice. “Well, I’ll keep it in mind but I’m going to be exhausted.” She took a deep, fortifying breath, and put a hand on the table, just centimeters from Kara’s casually rested hand. “I’m pregnant.”

“I couldn’t tell.”

August narrowed her eyes, “Kara.”

She grinned, “I’m joking. Congratulations!” Seeing August’s unchanged look, she tried again, “Not congratulations?”

“It’s yours.”

Kara’s mouth formed an ‘O.’ She shook her head, cleared her throat, and gaped again but nothing came out.

Stupidity eventually came out her mouth. “Are you sure?”

August stared at her, a bleak look on her angular face, like she couldn’t believe Kara had said something so hurtful. “The timing adds up. I was here five months ago, we saw one another, and the doctor says I’m about four and a half months along. Zion’s been overseas almost a year. No leave.”

“Right,” Said Kara, staring at the Formica table.

“You’re the only option I have,” August continued. “I’m unerringly faithful to my husband.”

Kara, defensive and suddenly tired, snapped, “You cheat on him once a year with me.”

The other woman was droll but truthful, “Only you have ever had the power to shake me of my convictions.” Then, quieter, “You were my first. I wanted to make you my only.”

“You wouldn’t wait.” Kara’s hands were curled in on themselves. “I asked you for a year. Just one. I wanted to finish my graduate degree.”

“You weren’t going to marry me.”

“I had a ring.”

“Correction: You weren’t going to be happily married to me.”

“You don’t know that.”

August let out a deep sigh, one that seemed to come from deep in her chest. “You didn’t love me like I loved you. You still don’t. You love the idea of me – someone to come home to, to hold up those traditions of yours. Spend Friday wrapped up in a cocoon of darkness, listening to music, holding each other. Spend Saturday praying and cleaning and praying again, venturing out for the barest things. I couldn’t do that happily for you and you wouldn’t give that up for me.”

“It’s my belief,” Said Kara. She was picking at her thumb cuticle with her index nail. “I can’t give that up. I won’t. I never will. But I wouldn’t want you home barefoot and pregnant, not like Zion.”

August’s voice trembled. “Maybe so. At least Zion loves me.”

“He hardly lets you out of the house.”

She laughed, bitterly, tears glittering in her eyes, “Maybe he has a point. I went out with you and now I’m pregnant.” She smiled thinly, “I can’t even pretend its his baby.”

Kara and Zion looked nothing alike. Zion was Angola-Korean. Tall, slight, dark haired and eyed and skinned. Kara’s cornflower blue eyes and blonde hair and fair skin would show up like a beacon.

Suddenly, all the fight fled Kara. She slumped backwards. “It’s fine. We’ll figure it out. We can co-parent. The baby stays with you six months, me six months.” She repeated herself, “We’ll figure it out.”

August smiled slightly, “Thank you.”

Their meals came and they ate quietly. Kara got the bottle of kombucha but was so rattled at the news, she didn’t even think to go to Lena’s office with a pregnant August in tow. She took August to the hotel, hugged her tightly, then watched her head inside.

Kara got home, locked her doors and windows, shut the blinds, lit her candles with heat vision. She stripped, put on an Otis Redding album, and got out her canvas. She’d been working on Lena in her office, the poise of her nails on her keyboard, the glint of her eyes. She put it aside and reached for a fresh canvas.

For the first time in years, she painted Krypton as she’d seen it as a child. Her father’s large hands; her mother’s scrawled writing; the bounce of her aunt’s curls; the cold red sun that dominated it all. She’d never had a therapist as a child and the Danvers had always insisted she not paint Krypton. “It could give you away, if somebody recognized it,” They’d said. Alex had looked on, silent. She’d painted Krypton when they weren’t around, when nobody was there to recognize the constellations and the three moons and the spires of Argo City. Then Lex Luthor had been on his rampage and she’d hidden them all before going to National City University – as physically far away from Metropolis as two cities could be in the same country. She painted, kept painting, until she was out of canvases and covered in paint.

When Kara had started, it was just after noon, perhaps one in the afternoon. Heading into her bathroom after working for so long, she was surprised to see that the city was brightly illuminated but the sky dark. She stared out at the city, then turned on her water to its hottest setting. She laid in the tub and thought of Krypton.

This would have been a joyous occasion on Krypton. She was the first born of the house of Ze and El, a prestigious union linking old enemies as family. She’d have told her parents and they’d have been thrilled, adopted August and her children into the Houses, even her husband, and the celebration would have lasted at least a week. There’d be cleansing and prayer, she’d go and get her _zheroid_ circumcised by the Counsel, given her family-maker name, ascended in society. They’d be given their own space in the House of El’s den, maybe even the Ze house with Alura and Non.

That was Krypton. This was Earth.

She sat in the tub until the water was cold, letting the steam coax tears from her eyes. Then she got up, dried off, and pulled out her laptop. She had watched children before but never babies, not since Kal-El on Krypton, fat and dark haired and smiling. Would the baby have August’s noise? Her round cheeks and chin?

She put everything a baby could possibly need on a wishlist, tallied up the cost, and blew out a harsh breath. She had four more months – no more nights out, no extra takeout, no frivolous spending and she’d make it. Barely.

A baby. Her baby. The last Kryptonian was having a child. Kara put on her supersuit, sped through the living room window, and went as high as she could, into the stratosphere.

She broke the sound barrier, whooping. “I’M HAVING A BABY!” She yelled, doing loop de loops. “AONAH-EL!” She yelled.

Alex. She had to let Alex know, had to tell Maggie, Winn, James, Kal, J’onn. Cat.

Lena. She had to let Lena know.

She bubbled her joy inside herself and made a tight corkscrew back to the USA.

She could show them this – the endless blue of the ocean, the black of the sky, how it felt to move so fast that the world would never catch up.

A baby.  
\--  
Naturally, once she’d changed into civilian clothes and was ready to go to Alex’s, she realized Alex was on a date with Maggie. Maggie worked the Friday-Tuesday shift, giving her three days off, so Thursday dates were their way of having a Sunday together. And if Alex was with Maggie, then this was the day Lena was out of town on one of her pet projects. James, Mon, and Winn were probably together, though. And, more technically, she needed to tell Mon as her Daxamite cousin. The House of El was large and vast and they were the only two who remembered the intricate patterns of prayer and stories. Daxamites had split from Krypton eons before the destruction but they’d retained the House structures. The House of El was great on all planets that Kryptonians lived on. It had been a sharp hurt to realize with Krypton's death, Rao had died too, and all the planets around them a gaping void.

James’ apartment was empty but Winn’s was occupied. She knocked on the door, nearly punching through the wood before she reigned herself in.

Mon-El opened the door, beaming.

“Is it true?”

She grinned back, nodded. “I was told today.”

He picked her up in a hug, the two laughing, and when he put her down, she picked him up, spun him around like a child.

“Oppa!” He yelled, clutching to her shoulders. She put him down and they continued to stare at one another and grin, even when in the apartment with the door closed.

Finally, Winn cleared his throat from where he and James were holding their controllers. “Care to let us in?”

Mon slung an arm around her shoulders, pride all over his face, “Kara’s going to be a namer!”

The humans glanced at one another, “Um.”

“A namer,” He continued, insistent. “Give her name to someone else.”

James frowned, “You’re getting married?”

Kara rolled her eyes, “No, of course not. It’s different in Kryptnou.” She paused, thinking, “I’m going to be a parent.”

Neither of the men moved, barely breathing.

Mon-El grinned, “Isn’t it great? Another Kryptonian!”

“You’re pregnant?” Winn sputtered.

The aliens stared at him as if he’d sprouted extra heads.

“No! A namer, not a life-giver.” Mon sighed. “It’s like they don’t speak English.”

She explained, “A namer doesn’t give birth. Not the first time. We give our House name.”

The light seemed to dawn on them. “So Lena’s pregnant,” James tried.

Kara frowned, “Why would Lena be pregnant?”

“Because – well, who is?”

She waved a hand, “A friend of mine. We’ve decided to co-parent.”

The men looked at one another again, then Winn asked, haltingly, “Are you sure right now is the best time?”

“What are you talking about?” Kara was confused and rapidly getting irritated. Mon-El folded his arms across his chest, similarly upset.

Winn waved his hands, “It’s just – you’re a reporter, you’re doing good, you’ve got a handle on your career and Supergirl-ing, whatever, and you want to add a baby? It can’t wait?”

James nodded, silent.

Kara was icy. “No, it can’t.”

Winn was rapidly becoming frantic, “You’re twenty-five! Who has a baby at twenty-five?”

“I will. And we’ll be fine, with or without you.”

James and Winn leapt to their feet, James reaching for her shoulder as he said, “No, Kara, c’mon!”

She shook him off, slamming the door behind herself. Mon-El was just in front of her and he swallowed. “My stuff is in there.”

She shrugged, “Go get it. Or don’t.” Her shoulders hunched, “I’ll do it on my own.”

 _“This is a joyous occasion,”_ He told her, staring into her eyes. _“The House of El will never die.”_

She said the next words, _“The House of El shall prosper forever.”_

_“The House of El welcomes a new member.”_

Then, together: _“May we always be together in Rao’s Light.”_

They hugged again, tightly, in Winn’s washed out hallway. Mon-El was the first person she could really hug anywhere close to her natural strength, the only one who was family in the same way Alex was. She waited as he gathered his things. She could hear Winn and James’ protesting, saying what they thought he wanted to hear, but Kara could smell the lies on them.

They thought she was ruining her life.

How could they not understand she had no life – Kara only had an existence, and one she’d eked out at that, one barely worth continuing. Kara would never have the naming ceremony or the community baths or the cold hug of Rao or the blowing wind off of Krypton’s neon-green ocean. She’d never have her parents or grandparents or the person she’d been engaged to, them looking up at her with shy gray eyes in lectures, holding hands as they walked home; she’d never have the Science Guild or exploring the planets or the thrill of lifting something heavy again. She only had the adrenaline of saving life after life and the constant fight for a planet where she was unwanted but for a select few.

Mon-El emerged, the guys after him, both barefoot and arguing. “Mon-El, man, where are you going?” Winn asked. “You don’t have anywhere to go!”

He turned, his chin up. “I’m a member of the House of El. Karze-El and I will do just fine.”

“Who?” Winn drew his hands through his hair.

“Kara. By virtue of becoming a namer, she has her adult name now.”

“This is crazy,” James finally said. “I’m calling Clark.”

Mon-El growled, “Leave that traitor out of this!”

“So now he’s a traitor! You’re the crazy ones!”

Kara thought of the fat baby she’d helped change, the one she’d showed her art to, and then the man he’d become - the one who gave their family away to the whole world.

She shook her head, "He's not a Kryptonian. Not culturally. And he's not the oldest. I am.” She swallowed, “And what I say is leave him out of it. It doesn’t concern him. Nothing about me ever did.”

James shoulders were shaking, “What about El Mayarah?”

Mon-El scoffed. Kara’s lips thinned but she said, “He’s polluted it. A family’s coat of arms should remain only with the family, not shown to the whole world. It’s to remind you that family is always here,” She tapped at her heart, “that we share the same blood. That we choose who we let into our family. It’s not so six billion people can see it and mistake it for an ‘S’.”

“So you’re saying you’d rather ‘co-parent’ than live your life? Save the world, get somewhere in your career?”

Kara was suddenly tired. She dreaded having this conversation again – with Alex, with Maggie, with Cat, with J’onn, with Eliza, with Lena. Especially with Alex and Lena, the venerable career women.

Still, she said the truth.

“This will be the first Kryptonian child born in over thirty years. We’d be celebrating on Krypton, parties from dawn until dusk. Why,” She asked them, “Shouldn’t I be proud to be a parent?”

Winn reached for her first, pulling her into his tightest hug. She patted his back lightly. James hugged her as well, mumbling, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

Mon-El, though pacified that James and Winn would behave, still accompanied her home. It was his right as an El; Kryptonians shared beds and baths, touched one another as much as possible, lived at home until the towers burst at the seams with people. They took their shoes off at the door, their shirts off in the living room, and climbed in bed together, shoulder to shoulder.

“A baby, Karze,” Mon-El whispered. “How exciting.”

Kara smiled again. She’d have a child soon; four or five small months, to hold onto for the rest of her life.

“Let’s show them the stars, Mon.”


	2. Chapter 2

Alex stormed into the apartment minutes past dawn. Mon-El and Kara were snuggled together, snoring, even when she’d stomped into the alcove of Kara’s bedroom. She had her tactician boots on and kicked them both in the back.

 

The first thing she said when Kara finally, lazily, opened her eyes was, “You said you weren’t sleeping with her.”

 

She rubbed her eyes, disentangling herself from Mon. “Huh?”

 

Alex grabbed her by the shoulders, unheeding of her bare chest, and shook her until she focused. “You said you weren’t sleeping with her!”

 

Kara yawned, “No, I didn’t.”

 

Her sister growled, “I told you that girl was in love with you and you said ‘no’!”

 

“I know. I lied about that but I never said I wasn’t sleeping with her.”

 

Alex took a deep, fortifying breath, then said, stoically, “I’m going to kill you. I spent twelve years making sure you passed as a human and had a career and right when you’re about to start getting somewhere, you get somebody pregnant with an _alien baby_. I should strangle you.”

 

Kara yawned again, climbed out of the bed around Mon-El’s prone form, and went to the bathroom. Alex followed her.

 

“You’re so reckless,” She was scolding Kara. “How’s Mom going to react?”

 

Kara closed the bathroom door and peed. Alex didn’t need any input; she’d work herself into a frenzy then talk herself down eventually.

 

“Oh, I don’t need you to say anything, we both know this is going to be my fault.” She raised her pitch, “Oh, Alex, you should have been there for Kara. I’m so disappointed in you. Why didn’t you wrestle your sister away from the tempting vagina? Congratulations on the baby, Kara, let me bake you a pie.”

 

She began to pace, boots clunking on the wooden floors as Kara brushed her teeth, “And what about work, huh? You’re a journalist. You intend to go to crime scenes on a Sunday with a baby on your back? You’re gonna show up to a conference with puke in your hair? What daycare is gonna take care of a Kryptonian baby? You don’t even have health insurance! You just barely support yourself, what about this baby, Kara? You never think!”

 

Kara spit, then continued brushing.

 

“And forget being a superhero! You can’t be gone for hours at a time with this baby, it’ll destroy the DEO. We’ll be up to our knees in nannies. You’ve got two degrees but forgot to use a damn condom. I can’t believe you.”

 

Kara rinsed her mouth out with water, then spit in the sink. She washed her toothbrush off and put it back in its cup. Her shirt was on her side of her bed and she put it back on as Alex followed her into the kitchen.

 

“Food!” Alex said, throwing herself on the couch, putting the pillow there behind her head. “How much do Kryptonian babies even eat? Can you afford it? I don’t think so! I know how much you make, I’ve done your taxes.”

 

Kara cracked two dozen eggs into a massive bowl, added salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and oregano, goat’s milk, and stirred with a fork until it was homogenized. She looked through the fridge until she found a package of steak strips. She seasoned them, threw them in a pan and cooked them with heat vision.

 

“Stop with the heat vision!” Alex yelled without looking. “What kinda influence is that on the baby? How are they supposed to be human with you using your powers whenever you please?”

 

Kara let the residual pan heat cook the eggs, then made herself a huge plate of steak and eggs. She grabbed two forks and nudged Alex until she sat up. She handed her one fork and started eating. The TV was on the news, nothing much for a Friday morning.

 

Alex took a bite.

 

“What were you thinking?” She asked, softly. “Why not use a condom?”

 

Kara shrugged, “I’ve never used a condom with August.”

 

Alex stared, sputtered, then hit her in the shoulder as hard as she could. Kara barely felt it while Alex grunted and held her hand.

 

“Goddammit.”

 

Kara got up and grabbed the ice pack in the freezer, talking, “I thought our DNA was incompatible. I can’t even take blood from humans. By the time I figured I’d check, it’d already been a few times. Seemed mean to me, making her go through all those tests, telling her I wasn’t human.” She wrapped a tea towel around the ice pack and gave it to Alex.

 

The brunette tilted her head back, eyes closed.

 

“You’re terrible. I’m not raising this baby with you. You’d better be a good dad. I’m tired of raising Kryptonians. You don’t listen.”

 

Kara corrected her softly, “Namer. We d-didn’t have those roles like you western humans do. I’m the namer parent, August the life-giver.”

 

She grunted, “Namer, then.”

 

Alex took a break from flaying Kara alive to eat more of the eggs, “Don’t think I don’t realize you didn’t say anything. You should have called me. I had to hear it from fucking Clark!”

 

Kara narrowed her eyes and gave her a look, “I didn’t tell Kal. I went to tell Mon, I guess James called Kal.” She took a bite of her omelet, “I would never have told him before you.”

 

“But you’d tell Mon-El?” Alex scowled, hurt. “What, aliens have to stick together?”

 

The blonde shook her head, “You were out with Maggie. I didn’t want to put a hold on your time together or – stress the two of you. So I told Mon. I’ll tell J’onn today, when I go for my weekly update.”

 

Alex was like a dog with a bone, “You’ve never used a condom?”

 

“I’ve only slept with one woman, Alex.”

 

Alex took a deep, fortifying breath. “How the Hell did you let her cheat on Zion with you? Cheating is the worst thing you could do to somebody and you’re -” She made a gesture encompassing all of Kara, “You’re you. Truth, justice, kindness, the American way.”

 

Kara shrugged, looking at her cuticles. She’d always picked at them incessantly. Alex was staring her down, wouldn’t let up until she gave her a response. She missed the days when she could pretend not to speak English.

 

She sighed, “I was – again, the human aspect of it is that she should only be intimate with who she married, whatever. I’m not human. Or American. Not really. I wasn’t raised with that; it’s confusing, sometimes. Zion would have joined the House, along with their kids. August wanted physical intimacy with me, I thought it was a change in our relationship that I could handle. Zion would find out someday but at least I was safe. I can’t catch any STI’s or anything. She was never pregnant before, we slept together almost three years.” Then, quietly, and the root of the matter, “She loves me.”

 

Alex was hurt, “I love you.”

 

Kara shook her head, “It’s a different love than what you have for me, than our friends.  She loves me. She’s the only one who ever has. She just couldn’t love living my way with me.”

 

She swallowed, then took the plunge, “I was going to marry her anyways.”

 

Alex stared, “You’re joking. You wouldn’t even say you were dating.”

 

“I’m not joking. I couldn’t figure out how to tell you without making you feel bad, that the first person I moved in with went from being the annoying girl who borrowed my toothpaste to the girl who I lost my virginity to within a year. You’d take all the blame, say I needed to see more people, it would be your fault for not getting me out more. I couldn’t do that to you.”

 

Her sister was silent. Kara continued, looking and not looking at the TV, “I was going to make the ring myself, propose when I finished grad school.” She licked her lips, her perfect memory transporting her to the day, the moment where she’d realized she wanted to marry August. They were in the tiny twin bed on August’s side of the room. August was reading and Kara was sketching for class, pressed as close to one another as possible, shoulder to ankle. August had sighed, turned the page. Kara’s attention had been on her left hand, the movement of her muscles as she’d performed such a mundane task. She’d wanted to see it every day for the rest of her life. “Titanium. I wanted to get a couple ounces of it since we all know how I am with rings, practice, work on it, then give her the perfect band. I’d been practicing how much pressure it took to make diamonds.”

 

Kara was pulling her cuticle all the way out of the nailbed, watching a new one grow in place almost instantaneously.

 

“It was spring break. I’d stayed here to finish some portfolio pieces, write an essay for class. She went out with some of her sorority sisters and came back with a wedding band. Gold, natural A ruby. Zion had asked her already, that January. Said he couldn’t live without her, couldn’t bear to see me with her anymore. She’d been waiting on me to realize she was leaving me. I figured it would be like Krypton – she’d get married, stay with me anyways, for our physical and emotional attraction like expected.” She laughed, once. “Zion was stationed in Center City. They moved that same week. She’s stayed stateside, doesn’t like traveling. I would go out to see her, watch her look confused and small. Then she got pregnant with Tyler and I couldn’t do it anymore. It hurt too much. She started coming here instead, when she wasn’t pregnant. And now she’s having my baby.”

 

Alex reached with one hand, touched Kara’s head tenderly. Kara leaned against her briefly, then her eyes flickered upwards.

 

“Bitches ain’t shit,” Said Mon-El groggily from the bedroom opening. “At least that’s what Winn’ horseless carriage says.”

 

Kara put the mostly uneaten omelet down, disentangled herself from Alex, “Here, Mon. I’m gonna go shower and pray.”

 

“A baby,” Mon beamed at Alex. She threw her pillow at him.

\--

 

After praying for several hours in the hot Sun, Kara took a shower, put on clean clothes, ate the rest of the food in the pan, looked in her fridge for a drink and found the kombucha. She grabbed it, twisting it around in her hand, thinking. She put it in her messenger bag, and walked to the DEO.

 

J’onn was busy scowling at some trainees but Kara figured it was his “mildly impressed” frown and not his “Gods give me strength” frown.

 

“Miss Danvers,” He said without looking at her. “Hello.”

 

She smiled, “Hey J’onn. Any aliens for me to wrangle today?”

 

“I’m afraid not. National City seems to reserve all its action for Wednesday afternoons.”

 

She rocked on her heels, “Awesome. I – um, have a question.”

 

“The DEO will cover the expenses of a Kryptonian hybrid baby being born, particularly if they are born here.”

 

“Oh. How-“

 

“Agent Schott informed me. Then Agent Danvers told me her requests for continued employment for both of you. Very, very insistently and very early this morning.”

 

She cleared her throat, “Right. And-“

 

“Your pay will be in your account. We’ve been holding onto your checks in the event that your pro bono work wasn’t panning out.” He glanced at her, an eyebrow raised, “It’s been appreciated, Miss Danvers. I didn’t think you’d hold out this long.”

 

Kara fiddled with her glasses, “Thanks, J’onn. I appreciate this. I’ll – I owe you one.”

 

He cleared his throat, arms still crossed around his chest, “You owe me nothing. I was a young parent once.” Finally, he softened and smiled, “Congratulations, Kara – well, Karze, now.”

 

She grinned, “Thanks, J’onn.”

 

“Don’t thank me yet. I’ll be working you like a dog until this infant comes. And then they’ll work you twice as hard.” He clapped her on the shoulder, hard. Her knees buckled at the unexpected force. “Consider this training part two.”

 

L-Corp wasn’t far from the DEO, around lots of delicious food Lena never ate. Kara found a restaurant nearby, got a vegan burrito for Lena and a double burrito for herself. They had cookies so she bought three. She walked right passed the security guard, who waved her ahead, and she took the elevator to Lena’s floor.

 

Jess was, of course, in position, eyeing Kara mistrustfully. She had the feeling that even if Lena didn’t know she was Supergirl, that Jess did.

 

“Hi, Jess,” She smiled.

 

Jess glared. “Go in. No meetings today.”

 

Kara fished a cookie out and gave it to Jess, “No nuts, no gluten.”

 

“Thanks,” She mumbled.

 

Kara pushed the door open with her shoulder, “Hi, Lena. I come bearing food.”

 

Lena looked up from her keyboard, a bright look on her face, “Kara! On a Friday? What a surprise.” Lena looked tired but a good tired; the exhilarated face of someone working hard on a project.

 

She smiled, “Felt like getting out the house.” Besides, she’d absorbed so much sunlight while praying that she wouldn’t be able to relax and read or paint like she normally did on Friday and Saturday. Then, she smiled, “Tell me about your sustainable farming project. I know you went out of town yesterday to take a look.”

 

Lena’s face lit up. “Did you know,” She began, “That Havana produces almost 90% of its own produce? Not Cuba as a whole for Havana, but Havana for Havana’s uses?”

 

Kara had been once, saved a young boy from his abusive uncle. She wondered how Miguel was doing. “I didn’t know that,” She told Lena. “You went for a conference?”

 

Lena shook her head, “No, just curious. I had the afternoon free. It’s not a long flight.” It was three and a half hours each way, seven total. Maybe in the L-Corp jet it was six, but she’d have spent less time flying to Hawaii and back, only two hours, and Oprah’s sustainable farm was in Hawaii. There was something about Cuba that had piqued Lena’s interest.

 

“What were you thinking of?” Kara asked her, setting up lunch. She pulled the still cool kombucha out of her bag and set it on Lena’s side, then the burritos and cookies. She waited until Lena had taken a bite of her burrito to start. She’d still finish both before Lena, even taking her time.

 

The dark-haired woman chewed slowly, “I want to do something similar in Metropolis. Metropolis imports almost all of its food, there’s more food desserts than there are grocery stores. I looked into rooftop gardening but with acid rain, there’s a possibility of a burning to the vegetables. Then I looked into harvesting and cleansing rainwater, turning it into what would be similar to ground water. Then we could buy abandoned lots, turn them into community gardens, hire people to work there and get some income into the community. What do you think?”

 

Kara thought, turning the whole situation over in her mind. “That still wouldn’t solve the problem of lack of resources in the community. Cuba was a major agricultural industry before the Cold War. People had experience. You’d have to import topsoil, a manager to oversee the entire enterprise, double check the books, teach people, and they still wouldn’t have their own source of plentiful carbohydrates or protein besides beans, which gets boring and labor intensive. And Metropolis’ weather is terrible. They’ve had hail storms every June and July from 1842. It snowed three inches this June. It’d destroy the crops. The best option is to see if Gotham can do it, below the bay. Cheaper costs, less pollution, not as metropolitan. Their weather is less temperamental, it’s warmer, they don’t have the laws against, say, chickens or ducks for eggs, or the limit on goats for fresh milk and as weed control. People still keep pigs in South Gotham for backyard slaughter.”

 

Lena’s lips pursed, “We can counter the weather with hoop houses and greenhouses, and it would extend the season almost indefinitely. Topsoil and teaching aren’t the worst problems to have.” She conceded, “Animal protein is important, you’re right. We’d have to see about a special permit, maybe a petition because of the noise risks, or move those to unincorporated Metropolis and then distribute them. Maybe a few rabbits in some lots, the manure is good for plants.”

 

Kara’s lips twitched, “Good ideas.” Then she grinned, teasing, “It helps that Metropolis doesn’t have a Bruce Wayne, right?”

 

Lena was not amused, scowling, “Bruce Wayne is the devil incarnate.”

 

“He’s not that bad.” She’d hung around Bruce twice as Batman since becoming Supergirl and he was largely harmless, if deathly serious about protecting Gotham. He was unconcerned by anything outside the city limits to the point of ignorance, but within, he was omniscient.

 

Lena growled, “I can’t stand him. He’s the worst type of CEO. He lets his board dictate everything and is always in a scandal.”

 

Kara pushed the cookie closer, “Eat your cookie and relax. You don’t have to eviscerate him right now.”

 

The other woman took a savage bite, then moaned lowly. Kara watched, amused, as Lena chewed carefully, wiped her mouth of crumbs, and took small swallows so she wouldn’t choke.

 

She took another bite, covered her mouth, and saw Kara looking. She swallowed, alarmed, “What? Do I have something on my face?”

 

Kara shook her head, biting her lip. She’d only eaten half of her first burrito but her stomach suddenly roiled.

 

“Nothing,” She finally said. “I was just wondering if you ever wanted kids someday.”

 

Lena’s eyebrows went up, her face surprised. “Me? Honestly?”

 

“Yeah,” Said Kara. “Honestly.”

 

Lena hummed, brow furrowed as she thought.

 

“As a child,” She said quietly, “I did always want a different family. I don’t remember anything but the Luthor’s, of course, at that age, but I did always want a family that loved me. Lex loved me but he was always gone. Dad loved me but he was – distant, even in his love, even at his best. Mother didn’t. I used to watch Matilda and felt a lot like her. Smart, talented, but ultimately just unloved. Or rather, unlovable. I used to dream that a new family would find me, one with lots of brothers and sisters to treat me like Lex, all the time. I wanted to marry young and have a huge family.”

 

Kara was staring at her again, feeling an echo of her emptiness reside in Lena. The circumstances were different, of course, but they were alone and filled with sadness. “Why didn’t you? Marry young, have a big family.”

 

Lena smiled depreciatively, “Who’d marry a Luthor? I had Jack but-” She cleared her throat, her pain swiftly hidden.

 

Kara reacted without thinking, with vehemence, “They don’t deserve you if they can’t look past your surname. They really don’t. You’d be a great mom.” She swallowed, “Those kids would be lucky.”

 

Her cheeks were pink, “Thank you, Kara.” She cleared her throat, taking a sip of her kombucha. “And what brought that on?” Her eyebrows raised, her face suddenly alight with mischief, “Something you need to tell me? Will I suddenly become a babysitter?”

 

“It won’t be sudden,” Kara replied.

 

Lena’s jaw dropped, “You’re pregnant.”

 

She replied, deadpan, “I can’t get pregnant on Earth, I’m an alien.”

 

“Ha-ha.”

 

Kara looked at Lena, really looked at her, and of their own volition, her hands reached up. She took the tie out of her ponytail, put her glasses on the desk. She stared at Lena, even as green eyes widened and she choked on nothing until she slumped back, nearly hyperventilating.

 

“I am an alien,” She replied. “And I can’t get pregnant on Earth. Human sperm is incompatible.”

 

Lena’s voice was tiny, “Oh.”

 

“It won’t be sudden,” She repeated herself. She thought of how to clean up the situation, and then said the truth, “An old friend is pregnant. We’ve decided to co-parent.” Kara allowed her joy to show through to another person, grinning, “I’ve never been happier.”

 

The shock softened and Lena reached out to pat her hand. Her skin was very cool in comparison to Kara, but pleasantly soft. “Then I’m happy, too, Kara.”

 

Her conscious clear, Kara demolished her burritos, her cookie, and the rest of Lena’s cookie.

 

“What are your species babies like?” Lena asked. She’d turned back to her computer screen, reading, burrito forgotten, but all her attention was on Kara as she hummed, thinking.

 

“We’re Kryptonians. We’re very similar to Earthlings, but even on our home planet as babies we need to eat more. We sleep ten hours as adults, eighteen as infants. The rest of the powers develop after puberty.”

 

“Kryptonians,” Lena whispered. Her eyes were bright, illuminated by her internal light, “And your language?”

 

It was automatic. Kara had thought these things many times, terrified she would forget. There were pages and pages, notebooks so tall that they’d were in constant danger of falling over in her closet of everything she could think of about Krypton. “My family had two. There was _Kryptoniou_ , the official world language, but my family spoke the older _K’yptnou_. We had about seven or eight dialects, with _Qiught_ almost completely undecipherable because the people there lived in the mountains, very isolated, for almost three thousand years before we perfected interplanetary travel.”

 

“That’s amazing,” Lena breathed. Her eyes burned with her joy. “Tell me-“

 

Someone knocked on the door. Kara had her glasses back on, her hair in its ponytail, and had gathered up all the trash in the paper bag the burritos came in by the time Lena called, “Come in!”

 

It was Jess, her face pinched with dislike, “It’s your CFO, he wants to talk to you.”

 

Lena sighed, rolling her eyes, “Of course he does.” She and Kara stood and they reached across the desk for a hug that was mostly arms gripping shoulders. A lot of the daily cleaning products humans used on themselves were wearing off; Lena smelled like sweat and beans and herself. Kara liked it.

 

She pulled away first, grabbing her bag, “See you later, Lena. Thanks for the talk.”

 

Lena replied, “You’ll have to tell me more about your home soon, Kara.” She made it sound like a mutual decision and not a request.

 

Kara couldn’t help grinning, “Of course.”

 

“And Kara?”

 

The blonde turned.

 

Lena was smiling with her eyes. “Congratulations.”

 

Kara took her time walking home, listening for danger, and picked up four large pizzas. She wasn’t sure if Mon had eaten or not but figured he wouldn’t say no to food. She locked the door behind her, putting the pizzas on the kitchen counter. She could hear water.

 

Mon-El was stripped and laying in the filling tub. There was just enough space for her.

 

“We’ll need a bigger one,” He told her as she got naked. “So _Aonah-El_ can bond.”

 

She hummed in agreement, climbing in so their legs were tangled. She looked at his face, slack and relaxed, his eyes closed, surprised again at how much they looked alike. The same jaw and ears, the slope of his nose and shape of his mouth; they were replicas of herself. They looked more alike than she did Kal but she could recall everyone eyeing Kal and saying how much he favored his mother’s family. _Jor-_ _khehthue_ had not been able to hide his embarrassment at being a namer with a child who looked nothing like him. Zor-ukr had beamed with pride at her birth – his status as second son meant she was not an automatic namer; perhaps it was closer to name-carrier than just namer – and they’d all said how much she favored him.

 

“It’s the eyes,” Her Mother would say, sighing softly. Every El had the same sweet, long-lashed eyes. Then, she would look at Zor-El with deliberate nonchalance, “It’s obvious her real father is Hal-Tz.” Father would growl playfully and Mother would shriek. They’d chase one another around the corridors like children until they collapsed with laughter. They were one of the few matches that loved one another.

 

Mon-El sank further into the tub. Their legs were tangled, their _zheroid_ ’s floated bare inches away, both still with the flap of skin of childhood on it.

 

“Should I get my _zheroid_ circumcised?” She asked Mon-El. “There’s no Counsel left to do it.”

 

He grunted, his brow furrowed, “You’re right. And we don’t have the razors or the cup or the –“

 

“The blood-letting stone, or the prayer book or –“

 

They said it together, morosely, grievingly: “The family cloth.”

 

She slumped in the hot water, reaching with one hand to turn the tap off. They were both thinking, and the steam rose around them, clouded the room. If she closed her eyes, she could see the great bathing rooms that made up the center of the Houses. Alliances, pacts, marriages, and divorces were made in the stone chambers. Cousins lied and defended one another; children blustered, their parents amused; matches would sit too close to one another, holding hands, until one of the matrons would say, “Go, go, make a _aonah-el_!” Always, always, _aonah-el._ A baby for the House.

 

“May there be as many of us as there are stars in the sky,” Mon-El said. His eyes were half-lidded, dark with his sadness.

 

“May our blessings be so many that they burst in our hands.”

 

Kara wouldn’t be circumcised. There were too many missing components, too much which would cast shadows on her when Rao’s Light finally came for her.

 

The next morning, early for National City but a decent time in Smallville, Kansas, Kara called The Kent’s while ordering all the baby essentials. It was Saturday but they’d be at her home by Monday night. The wonders of Amazon Prime shipping.

 

She had never met the Kent’s. She’d always had the number but the implication from Kal was that she should never call them unless there was an emergency. Like dying in Kansas, emergency. As a child, she had taken it for granted; the idea she’d had was that they didn’t want her, didn’t want to raise another alien orphan so the Danvers had been her family. Now, older, she recognized that Kal had not wanted to share his parents. They were old, sure, but the Danvers had never needed to contain her or restrain her or anything of that matter. She’d understood her role of alien interloper very well, particularly when they began to put off their parental responsibilities to Alex. They’d attended parent-teacher conferences, helped with her understanding the role of adults, but it had ultimately fallen onto Alex to teach her how to socialize and be normal and, eventually, help her with her powers beyond the intellectual.

 

Someone picked up on the third ring.

 

“Good morning,” She said. “I’m Kara Zor-El.”

 

“Hello,” Came the slow, measured masculine voice. “I’m Jonathan Kent. We’ve been expecting your call. Clark was pretty upset with some news regarding a baby.”

 

She swallowed, then smiled, “Yes. I – It’s an unexpected blessing.”

 

Mr. Kent chuckled, “That’s a great way to put it. I suppose you’re calling for advice?”

 

“Yes. I was already a teenager when I reached Earth so I’m unaware of what an infant of our – species is like here.”

 

He was cheerful, “You’re in luck. They go through food twice as fast but in general, they’re the same as a human. Clark was walking at about ten months and talking at a year. He didn’t have any powers until three, then super strength kicked in. He was twice as heavy as an average baby from the start, though. His hearing was always good, his eye sight and smell great. Super speed hit Clark at about five or six. The rest came with puberty. He never needed a special crib or special clothes or anything. Did you get your powers immediately on Earth?”

 

“I didn’t go through it to start with. It took almost two months for any to develop.”

 

He hummed, “I suppose it’s the adjustment period. Did we answer all your questions?”

 

She nodded, then said, “Yes, sir. Thank you so much.”

 

“Not a problem. You got any problems you call us or come visit. We ain’t but a five minute flight.”

 

“Yes, sir. Thank you again.” She hung up just as the Sun was peeking over the horizon. She went to the bathroom, washed her face and feet, her hands and the back of her neck before she walked to the small window and climbed up to the roof. Mon-El was already there, standing, his hands on his hips. They both wore white shirts and skirts, stood barefoot on the warming roof.

 

“Are you ready?” Mon-El asked.

 

_“May the House of El rest forever in the stars.”_

They bent at the knee to the South of the rising Sun, where Rao would have risen, and recited their prayers.

 

On Krypton or Daxam prayer would not have been an all day event. It would have been fifteen minutes for the morning prayer, fifteen for the evening, and perhaps ten for the night. On Earth, there was much to pray for. They had to pray for wars to cease, for the hungry and poor, for people to find peace, for the family members who had died, then the House members, then for those who had died of old age, those who had violent deaths, those who had died with no one to mourn them, apathetic to Rao’s light. There was more, of course; prayers for wisdom and guidance, for strength and valor, for kindness and humility. The two were pressed shoulder to shoulder as the Sun beat down on them, whispering the names of their ancestors, and the city moved on around them.

 

They took two breaks to eat and for Kara to stop a mugging and then were back on the roof, repeating their observance. They prayed thrice a day on Saturdays, four if one hadn’t cleansed themselves of the outside world on Friday. On Sunday, they would be ready to face the world, the ancestors’ spirits on their side. By sunset, they had finished the third recitation and went to a Chinese buffet after quick showers.

 

“You know, Karze,” Mon said, an arm around her shoulders, “it’ll be nice to do this with the baby.”

 

She grinned just thinking about it, “I can’t wait until they’re big enough to introduce to potstickers. It’ll be a couple of years, though.”

 

He grunted, “Yeah, I suppose. A shame Earthlings are so underdeveloped, it takes them ages for teeth. They lack the rigor of a Daxamite.” Mon glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, smirking lightly.

 

She fell for the bait, “You mean Kryptonian.”

 

“Yeah, yeah. You guys are so the last season.” He puffed his chest out, “There’s a reason we’re the better planet.”

 

She pushed him into on-coming traffic.

 

They were midway through the buffet when something Mon had said niggled at Kara. Kryptonian babies _were_ made of hardier stuff than Earthlings and were born earlier. She’d been thinking in terms of an Earthling timeline – a full nine months. It would have taken two _lorakhs_ for a baby on Krypton. It was five months for a Daxam baby – but Daxamites had the same revolution as Earth, plus or minus a day. She dropped her lobster tail mid-bite.

 

Mon looked at her, even as she reached with sticky fingers for her phone.

 

Alex picked up on the second ring. “I’m still mad at you.”

 

“That’s great. Get a room ready.”

 

Her sister grunted, obviously ignoring her, working on something. “Oh, yeah. Why?”

 

“Kryptonian pregnancies are only five Earth months. She’s four and a half months already.”

 

Alex cursed her like a sailor, even as she hung up and immediately stood.

 

Mon-El walked behind her, holding four lobster tails in his arms and a dumpling in his mouth.

 

“Vherf vih gone?” He chewed furiously. “Where are we going?”

 

“I gotta get my car. We’ve got a life-giver to take to the DEO.”


End file.
